Each year we have an auction for one of our hand made western rigs. Al proceeds go to the Boy Scouts of America (Fernley NV Chapter)

At the Saturday evening banquet in June for the High Plains Drifters Western States Championship, they auction off all the shooters spent Brass back to the shooters. With all the proceeds going the Scouts Once this has been done then the hi-light of the evening becomes the holster auction. The first year we raised 750.00 for the Boy Scouts with the winning bidder getting a 1500.00 holster for his effort. Yes when we make the holster we double the value of the check written to the Boy Scouts. Each year since then; the auction has drawn participants from across the nation and the bidding keeps going higher.

For 2008 the winning bidder wrote a check to the Boy Scouts for a whopping 2200.00. (Not one penny is retained by Mernickle Holsters. This is for the kids) In turn at our own expense we built the winning bidder the holster presented here with a value of 4500.00

As the bidding goes up so does the creativity. For 2008 Bob chose to create the ultimate B Western Series rig. The seemingly endless hours it took to put this together became a labor of love for all those involved.

First we start with Cody who works in our big rig department and was in charge of laying up and hand cutting the leather used for the project. Once this was done it went over to Bob Mernickle and Patty Neil to decide on where we were going to begin. We choose the carving ability of our Carver Cathy Michael to hand carve all the components that Cody had cut out. Once Cathy carved the project she then hand painted the background in black to highlight the carving. From there we chose the silverwork of Roy at Coast Silver in Southern California. Each piece of Silver was hand made to create the special effects you see before you. After each piece of silver was made then a rope wire border in 24 carrot gold plate was added to all. Roy make a custom plate with the winning bidders name engraved and gold plated to highlight the center back of the belt. Not to stop there we added 5 Silver (yes silver) bullets supplied by Western Stage Props of Las Vegas Nevada above each holster to complete the effects. As soon as we got the carved pieces back from Cathy and the Silver from Roy it was time to do the final assembly.Bob Mernickle and Patty Neil laid the silver to the belt and holsters’, making sure each piece was perfectly placed.

Amy VanderKelen was in charge of the entire component gluing and preparing the project for stitching. The stitching was done by Stormie Kay Mernickle making sure each stitch was flawless. Once this was completed, it went back to Patty Neil to burnish all the edges to a polished finish. Chris VanderKelen formed each holster to fit the gun perfectly. This was not an easy accomplishment because even the inside throat of each holster was hand carved, and we needed to do a fit test without marking the leather in any way. Chris then handed the project back to Bob Mernickle for the final assembly. It is with great pride that all of us here at Mernickle Holsters Share this great adventure with you.

Also without the generous donation of 2200.00 to the Boy Scouts of America (Fernley NV Chapter) by “Adrian Noriega” of Fernley Nevada this holster may never have been created.